Henri Ponsot

{{Short description|French diplomat (1877–1963)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{more citations needed|date=April 2018}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Henri Ponsot | image = Henri-ponsot.jpg | order1 = High Commissioner of the Levant | term_start1 = August 1926 | term_end1 = 13 July 1933 | predecessor1 = Henry de Jouvenel | successor1 = Damien de Martel | birth_name = Auguste Henri Ponsot | birth_date = 2 March 1877 | birth_place = Bologna, Kingdom of Italy | death_date = {{Death date and age|1963|10|5|1877|3|2|df=y}} }} '''Auguste Henri Ponsot''' (2 March 1877 – 5 October 1963)<ref>[http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Lebanon.htm French-mandated Syria and Lebanon (headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon) French High Commissioners]</ref> was a French politician and statesman.

==Life== Auguste Henri was born in Bologna, Italy. After law studies at the University of Dijon, Ponsot entered the diplomatic career in 1903. After having stayed in Siam, Berlin and Canada, he was appointed as the Secretary General of the Tunisian Government in 1922. Appointed to the Sub-Directorate of African Affairs, he negotiated with the Spain an agreement for a joint action in Morocco and lead the talks of Oujda in May 1925.

Ponsot became the French High Commissioner in Syria and Lebanon in August 1926 until 13 July 1933.<ref>{{cite book|author=Abdellah Ben Mlih|title=Structures politiques du Maroc colonial|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=shaMvjo0ltgC&pg=PA345|year=1990|publisher=L'Harmattan|isbn=978-2-7384-0833-4|page=345}}</ref><ref>[http://countrystudies.us/lebanon/20.htm book of The French Mandate]</ref> Afterwards, he served as the French resident-general in Morocco from August 1933 to March 1936. From 1936 to 1938, Ponsot was the French Ambassador to Turkey in Ankara.<ref name="catroux">{{cite journal |title=Un Grand Ambassadeur: Henri Ponsot |author=Général Catroux |journal=Revue des Deux Mondes |pages=538–547 |date=June 1963 |format=pdf |language=fr |url=https://www.revuedesdeuxmondes.fr/article-revue/un-grand-ambassadeur-henri-ponsot/}}</ref>

Later on, Ponsot led the discussions with Amin al-Husseini in which the French authorities expected an improvement in France's status in the Arab world through his intermediaries.<ref>{{cite journal| title = Le grand mufti de Jérusalem en France: Histoire d'une évasion| last = Hershco| first = Tsilla| author-link = Tsilla Hershco | journal = Revue Controverses |date=March 2006 | issue = 1 | url = http://www.controverses.fr/pdf/n1/grand_mufti.pdf }}</ref> After the World War II, Ponsot worked in Geneva to participate in the creation of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. There he was in 1947 elected chairman of the International Refugee Organization<ref>{{cite book |url=https://cdn.un.org/unyearbook/yun/chapter_pdf/1946-47YUN/1946-47_P2_SEC8.pdf |title=Yearbook of the United Nations 1946-47 |chapter=Part 2: The specialized agencies. Section 8: The International Refugee Organization. Chapter D: Preparatory Commission |pages=807 |date=1947 |publisher=United Nations Publications |editor=}}</ref> and was also tasked with liquidating the organization in 1952.<ref>{{cite journal |title=International Refugee Organization |journal=International Organization |volume=6 |issue=2 |year=1952 |page=309 |jstor=2704095}}</ref> He remained in Geneva for seven years until his final retirement.<ref name="catroux"/>

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponsot, Henri}} Category:Ministers of the overseas of France Category:1877 births Category:1963 deaths Category:High commissioners of the Levant Category:Resident generals of Morocco Category:Ambassadors of France to Turkey Category:Italian emigrants to France Category:French expatriates in Thailand Category:French expatriates in Germany Category:French expatriates in Canada